New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-08-08
THE Duty OF THE PARK BOARD.

Superintendent Parsons and Engineer kel-
logg report that the quarter oil a million
dollars appropriated for Morningside Park can
be expended In accordance with the old
plans slightly modified. This may mean that
what was called preliminary study by Messs.
Olmsted a. Vaux was really so far advanced
toward a working plan that the construction
of roads and walks with certain other founda-
top work can be- carried out from the draw
ings as they stand 1t is clearly within the
of.cial duty of the superintendent and ensl-
ncer to pass upon questions OF this KIND, ana
their decision Will not be disputed.
The hill upon whose Great and
flank the park is TO rest re-
mains where ii stood fourteen years ago. Ii
has not outgrown the plans as boy out
grows his Jacket and the elementary lines
of the park will fit the contour of the ground
in s7 as closely as they did in '73.
If. however the report is to be construed
as a recommendation to complete Morningslde
Park without a recasting of its design, the
advice is pernicious. For, in the first place,
it is not claimed that the old plan can be
followed to the end. After certain amount
of construction problems will be encountered
which the report says can be left in abcy-
ance." That is TO say, there will be work for
designer as we'll as for superintendent
and an engineer. Then why not engage the
designer at the outsetf One docs not erect
timber skel ton for his house and afteTward
invite an architect to furnish plan to fit
the Frame 1t is the designers work to see
the end from the beginning and suit the
foundation to the superstructure. Who
ofIrdy Of a
of Morningside would not make notifications
of this proposed foundation work necessary
Rut LET il be understood that revision
of the Morningsidc plan Is not made ncces-
sary by any lack OF wise forecast on the part
of the designers. This new study is not
asked for because the city has grown in size
and wealth as well as changed in taste and
character 1t was the business OF the de-
sgners to take such development into account,
and they did. But the work has been partly
carried out upon another plan and with an
alien motive, so that the new construction
begins under conditions never contemplated.
In the vet unfinished Central Park also, dis
tinctive features of the plan have been so
mutiIated in execution that the original idea
can never lie realized, and the same Is true
of Riverside. This brings US In front OF the
fundamental fact that the grant of money
was made to complete all three OF these
parks. in none Of which has the accepted design
been loyalty adhered TO- 1t was also made
to cover the works connecting the parks, and
these, If we except the Onc-hundred-a tenth
ST. plaza, have no design whatever. The loca-
ton of the boundaries of this plaza should
be credited, it is said, to the creative genius
of firm of real estate brokers'
From all this it follows that the first duty
of the Commissioners is to secure general
study of this entire cluster OF parks and their
connections for comprehensive plan
with a continuous and consistent purpose and
any propositlon to improve Nor ingside or
the plaza, or any other section OF the park
circuit by itself, is essentially vicious. 10
there is any reasonable excuse for refusing
or delaying to employ Messrs. Olmstead g.
Vaux as the resp nsible designers Of the COM
ing work, it has not been divulged. 1t is a
disgrace to New ork-a proof at once of
folly and ingrautude-that there ever has
been a day since the - Greensward' plan for
Central Park was adopted when these artists